What’s missing in Audacity 4, what came back and how to work around it
Audacity 4.0.1 has no Mix and Render, no Change Tempo or Change Speed and Pitch effect, and no Macros, Auto Duck, MIDI tracks, Mixer, Time Tracks or Play-at-speed. It does not load VST2, LADSPA or Vamp plugins, and the OpenVINO AI effects do not run in it yet. Most of these jobs still have a route inside Audacity 4, and for the rest Audacity 3.7.9 installs next to it and keeps working.
This page lists every Audacity 3 feature that is missing or changed in Audacity 4, what came back in 4.0.1 and the workaround for each one. It also covers whether to switch now, how to run Audacity 3 and 4 side by side, what happens to your projects and where to get an older version safely.
This page reflects Audacity 4.0.1, released on 30 September 2026 (4.0.0 came out on 3 September), and is updated with each new release. Checked on Audacity 4.0.1 on macOS Sequoia and Windows 11. Shortcuts are written for Windows; macOS uses Cmd where Windows uses Ctrl.
Audacity 4, Audacity 3 and the AI effects on MuseHub
Back in Audacity 4.0.1
The 4.0.1 update “resurrects some much-requested Audacity 3 features”, in the words of its release announcement. If you tried 4.0.0 and went back, these are the changes to look at again.
- One file per track or per label. Choose File ▸ Export audio…, then Export to computer, and set Type to Tracks as separate audio files or Labeled regions as separate audio files. In Audacity 3 this was Export Multiple. Splitting a recording into tracks walks through the label route.
- W plays the selection. Home and End jump to the start and end of the project again.
- A portable version for Windows. It runs without installing, on both x86_64 and ARM64 PCs.
- Better
.aup3compatibility. If an Audacity 3 project opened badly in 4.0.0, try it again in 4.0.1. - Fixes. File names with non-English characters open, closing a project after a failed save no longer loses data, and realtime effect windows stay open while you edit.
Audacity 3 features and their status in 4.0.1
The Audacity 4.0.0 changelog says the team is working on bringing back Time Tracks, Note/MIDI tracks, the Mixer, the Macro Manager and the scripting pipe, VAMP and LADSPA hosting, and Play-at-speed. It also says Audacity 4 “ships with some missing exporting and rendering features, analyzers, and effects”. The table covers the ones people look for most.
| Audacity 3 feature | Status in 4.0.1 | Workaround |
|---|---|---|
| Change Tempo, Change Speed and Pitch (effects) | Not in the Effect menu | Drag the clip’s clock-marked speed handles, or open the clip’s pitch and speed dialog |
| Mix and Render | Not yet | Export the mix, then import the file |
| Mix Stereo Down to Mono | Not yet | Export with Channels set to Mono, then import the file |
| Macros and the scripting pipe | Not yet | Audacity 3.7.9 for batch work |
| Auto Duck | Not yet | Draw the music’s volume down by hand with Clip gain, or use 3.7.9 |
| Note/MIDI tracks | Not ported; planned for Audacity 5 | A DAW |
| Play-at-speed | Not yet | Audacity 3.7.9, or slow the clip with its speed handles while you listen |
| Mixer, Time Tracks | Not yet | Volume and pan sit on each track; Time Tracks need 3.7.9 |
| OpenVINO AI effects (noise suppression, music separation, Whisper transcription) | Not supported yet | Audacity 3.7.x, or the free MuseHub Vocal Remover and Stem Splitter in the browser |
| M4A import | Missing from File ▸ Import in 4.0.1, even with FFmpeg | With FFmpeg installed, drag the file onto the tracks area, or open it in 3.7.9 and export WAV or FLAC |
| Sync-Lock | Replaced by ripple editing | Close gap (ripple) on delete; Ctrl+Delete; Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V |
| VST2, LADSPA and Vamp plugins | Do not load | The VST3 version of the plugin, or 3.7.9 for the old formats |
| Export Multiple | Back in 4.0.1 | Type ▸ Tracks as separate audio files or Labeled regions as separate audio files |
Plugins in VST3 (all platforms), Nyquist (all platforms), Audio Units (macOS) and LV2 (Linux) formats load in Audacity 4. How to use effects and plugins in Audacity shows how they install and validate.
MIDI will take longer. LeoWattenberg of the Audacity team wrote on the forum that “Audacity 5 is aiming to get full MIDI support”. Until then, MIDI work belongs in a DAW, and what a DAW is explains how one differs from an audio editor.
For the AI effects, separation does not have to wait. The free MuseHub Vocal Remover and Stem Splitter run in the browser and give you files to import into Audacity 4. Noise suppression and transcription still need Audacity 3.7.4 or a later 3.x release, and AI audio editing in Audacity covers both.
How to do the missing jobs in Audacity 4
Change tempo, speed or pitch
Audacity 4 moved speed and pitch onto the clip itself. The Effect menu keeps Change pitch and Sliding stretch, which rewrite the selected audio.
- Select the clip. Click its header, the bar along its top.
- Drag the speed handle. The lower handle at each edge is marked with a clock. Drag it and the clip stretches or squeezes, playing slower or faster. A badge in the clip’s corner lets you type an exact percentage instead. The pitch stays where it was, as with Change Tempo.
- Shift the pitch. Right-click the clip, or open its ⋯ menu, and choose Open pitch and speed dialog. Clip pitch is set in semitones and cents, and Clip speed as a percentage, in the same dialog.
- Turn on Optimize for voice for speech or singing. It keeps the resonances of a voice, so a shifted voice does not sound like a chipmunk.
To go from one tempo to another, divide the target BPM by the current BPM. A song at 106 BPM slowed to 103 BPM needs 103 ÷ 106, about 97.17% speed. How to change speed, tempo and pitch in Audacity covers both versions in full.
Mix and render without the command
Mix and Render combined several tracks, with their effects, into one. The export does the same mix, so you can render through a file.
- Choose what goes into the mix. Mute the tracks you want to leave out; the export skips muted tracks, and if any track is soloed, it takes only the soloed ones.
- Export. Choose File ▸ Export audio… (Ctrl+Shift+E), then Export to computer. Set Type to Full project audio, or to Selected audio for one stretch, and Format to WAV.
- Import the result. Choose File ▸ Import (Ctrl+Shift+I) and pick the file. It arrives as a new track.
Realtime effects on the tracks and on the Master are included in the export, so the imported file is also the way to apply them permanently. The Audacity team plans to bring the real command back; no release date is set.
Stereo to mono
- Export as mono. In the Export audio dialog, set Channels to Mono. Audacity mixes both channels into one, so a sound panned hard to one side is kept.
- Import the file with File ▸ Import. It arrives as a new mono track; remove the stereo original with Delete in its ⋯ menu.
Mono halves the file size, and a single-microphone recording loses nothing.
Duck music under a voice
Auto Duck lowered a music track wherever a voice track had speech. In Audacity 4 you draw the same curve yourself.
- Click Clip gain in the toolbar. It shows a volume line on every clip.
- Draw the dip. On the music clip, click the volume line to add two points just before the voice comes in and two just after it stops. Drag the inner two down. A click on the line adds a point, and a point moves where you drag it.
By hand it is slower than Auto Duck, but it suits a podcast intro with three or four voice passages. For a long episode with music under the whole thing, use Audacity 3.7.9. Export the voice and the music as separate files, run Auto Duck on them there, and import the ducked music back into Audacity 4.
Keep tracks in sync without Sync-Lock
Sync-Lock is gone because keeping tracks aligned is now part of how deleting and inserting work.
- The first Delete inside a clip asks. Choose Leave gap or Close gap (ripple). Close gap then asks whether to close it on the selected clip, all clips on the track or all clips on all tracks.
- Change the choice later. It lives in Preferences ▸ Audio editing.
- Use the shortcuts. Shift+Delete deletes and closes the gap on one track. Ctrl+Delete does it on all tracks. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V pastes while keeping every track in sync.
How to trim and cut audio in Audacity covers ripple editing step by step.
Should you switch to Audacity 4 now?
Choose Audacity 4 for new projects, for the rebuilt interface and the clip editing (select, trim and stretch a clip by its handles), and if you are starting out. The guides on MuseHub are written for it.
Stay on Audacity 3.7.9 for any job that needs a feature with no workaround in Audacity 4.
- Batch processing with macros or the scripting pipe.
- AI cleanup with the OpenVINO noise suppression or Whisper transcription.
- Time Tracks or Play-at-speed.
- VST2 or LADSPA plugins that have no VST3 version.
Some experienced users run both. billw58, a long-time helper on the Audacity forum, uses “3.7.9 for real work” and plays with Audacity 4 “to see how it’s going, and to be able to help folks here” (forum).
Run Audacity 3 and 4 side by side
The two versions do not replace each other. On Windows, Audacity 4 installs to C:\Program Files\Audacity 4 and Audacity 3 to C:\Program Files\Audacity. Audacity 4 keeps its preferences in an .ini file in a different folder under %appdata%, so the two do not share settings (Audacity forum). Both can be open at the same time, and either one can be uninstalled without touching the other.
On a Mac they are two separate apps in Applications, Audacity and Audacity 4, and they keep separate settings, so a theme changed in one stays as it was in the other. On Linux, both come as AppImage files that run from wherever you save them.
MuseHub installs both and keeps both up to date.
Audacity 4 is the current version, with the rebuilt interface and the clip editing. Install it through MuseHub and it updates with each release.
Audacity 3 stays on MuseHub for macros, the OpenVINO AI effects and the older plugin formats. MuseHub installs Audacity 3.7.9. Audacity installs through MuseHub without signing in. Do you need MuseHub for Audacity? covers the installer question.
To keep two Audacity 3 releases on one Windows PC, install each into its own folder and create a folder named Portable Settings next to each audacity.exe. Without it they share one settings file in AppData and can corrupt it (Support).
Move projects between versions
- Audacity 3 to 4. Open the
.aup3file in Audacity 4. It converts the project to.aup4and leaves the original file untouched. Old.aupprojects from Audacity 2 import too. - Audacity 4 to 3. There is no way back. A converted project cannot be saved as
.aup3, and Audacity 3 does not open.aup4. - Save numbered copies of important projects. The Audacity team has confirmed one more bug in 4.0.1 that can damage project files; its fix is planned for Audacity 4.0.2. If a project does break, recovering a corrupted project walks through the repair.
- Keep the
.aup3until the project is finished in Audacity 4. If you need to go back mid-project, export the tracks from Audacity 4 as WAV files (Type ▸ Tracks as separate audio files) and import them into Audacity 3. The audio comes across; the clip boundaries and the effect settings do not.
Download an older version safely
Use two places only.
- The older versions page on audacityteam.org. It lists every release from 3.0.0 to 4.0.1, with Windows, macOS and Linux downloads, served from the Audacity repository. Installers for 2.0.6 to 2.4.2 are linked from the same page.
- The download page on audacityteam.org for the current release, with links to every other official source.
Other download sites are not run by the Audacity team, and forum readers have found some of their links dead. For Audacity 3 alone, MuseHub is a third route and installs it with one click.
Portable Audacity 4 and older computers
Portable. Since 4.0.1 the Windows download page offers a portable archive next to the installer, for x86_64 and ARM64; the page marks the ARM64 build “No plugin support”. Unpack it to a folder and run Audacity4.exe from its bin folder, no installation needed. It is not portable in the Audacity 3 sense, though. It keeps no settings beside the program and uses the same settings as an installed Audacity 4, in %APPDATA%\Audacity\Audacity4, so a change made in one shows up in the other.
Older processors. Audacity 4 is built on a newer version of the Qt framework. Users in the 4.0.1 release thread found that the Linux AppImage does not start on processors without the SSE4.2 and POPCNT instructions, such as a Core 2 Duo. On such a machine, stay on Audacity 3.7.9.
Common mistakes
- Uninstalling Audacity 3 on the day you install 4. Keep it until you have done one full project in Audacity 4 and know that nothing you rely on is missing.
- Sending an
.aup4project to someone on Audacity 3. They cannot open it. Agree on a version before you share a project. - Looking for Change Tempo in the Effect menu. Speed and pitch are on the clip now, and its ⋯ menu holds the dialog; Effect ▸ Pitch and tempo still has Change pitch and Sliding stretch.
- Downloading an old version from a mirror site. The official page has every 3.x and 4.x release.
- Two Audacity 3 installs sharing settings. Give each one a
Portable Settingsfolder, or they overwrite each other’s preferences.
FAQ
Next steps
How to use Audacity takes you through Audacity 4 from the first launch to an exported file. The best Audacity plugins lists what loads in Audacity 4 today. Get both versions and the plugins in one place — download MuseHub free.
